OCTOBER 12, 2016
Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 2
25
CENTS
News .............................. 3,8-10 A & E .....................................6-7
Opinion ...................................2 World News Briefs ........10
Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classiieds ....................11
CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW
PHOTO BY CACOPHONY (GNU FREE DOCUMEN-
TATION LICENSE) VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY
The Portland City Council voted 3-1 Wednesday to
accept the city’s contract with the Portland Police
Association, in a closed conference room that
excluded the public.
Council voted in closed
meeting to accept
controversial agreement
By The Skanner News Staf
T
he Portland City Council voted
Wednesday to approve a contract
between the Portland Police Bu-
reau and its union — despite calls
from activists to postpone the vote un-
til Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler steps into
oice.
Commissioners Amanda Fritz and
Nick Fish both voted aye on the con-
tract, as did Mayor Charlie Hales. Com-
See POLICE on page 3
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Council
Approves
New Police
Contract
Tayna Dowers joined several hundred Native Americans and other Seattleites in a celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day Monday with a march from
Westlake Park to City Hall where the celebration continued with traditional drumming, singing and dance performances, a few words from local
politicians and a speech by author Sherman Alexie.
Thelma Johnson Streat Mural Finds a Permanent Home
Artist’s work will be displayed in African American history museum
By Arashi Young
Of The Skanner News
AP PHOTO/REBECCA BLACKWELL)
I
A woman looks up as a worker uses salvaged
sheets of mangled metal, full of holes, to create
a makeshift roof atop her home damaged by
Hurricane Matthew, in Port-a-Piment, Haiti, Oct.
10. Nearly a week after the storm smashed into
southwestern Haiti, some communities along the
southern coast have yet to receive any assistance,
leaving residents who have lost their homes and
belongings struggling to ind shelter and water.
Haiti
Recovery
Efort page 9
‘Maya Angelou: And Still
I Rise’ Movie Review
page 6
f not for the dedication
of her family, Thelma
Johnson Streat’s artistic
legacy would have been
lost to history. Now her
work is a permanent ix-
ture in the Smithsonian.
The Smithsonian pur-
chased Streat’s “Medicine
and Transportation Mu-
ral” to be a part of their
permanent collection for
the African American
Museum of History and
Culture in Washington
D.C. The work hangs near
famed American visual
artists Romare Beardon
and Jacob Lawrence.
Carlene Jackson, Streat’s
niece, lew to attend the
museum preview last
month to honor her late
aunt’s contribution. Jack-
son said the visit was an
emotional one for her.
“It was wonderful to see
it there. I even got a little
teary eyed thinking about
my aunt and how proud
she would have been,” Jack-
son said.
The mural was part of a
series of paintings Streat
made in the 1940s. These
murals were made to ed-
ucate children on the his-
torical accomplishments
of African Americans.
Jackson believes the “Med-
icine and Transportation
Mural” was painted some-
where between 1942 and
1944.
Streat was born in 1911 in
Yakima, Washington and
moved to the Portland area
when she was a child. She
lived with her parents in
four siblings near Benson
High School in Northeast
Portland and graduated
from Washington High
School.
Jackson said that Streat
took some art classes in
Portland through the Port-
land Art Museum School,
but her interest in art pre-
dated any formal training.
Jackson attributes this
interest to Streat’s father,
who was an artist as well.
“She really started at a
very young age -- recogniz-
ing that this was her talent,
this was her calling,” Jack-
See STREAT on page 3
Judge Extends Voter Registration in
Battleground Florida
Voter registration extended until Oct. 18 due to
disruption caused by Hurricane Matthew
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal
judge on Wednesday extended voter
registration until Oct. 18 in the bat-
tleground state of Florida, due to the
disruption and damage from Hurri-
cane Matthew.
During a hearing Wednesday, U.S.
District Judge Mark Walker agreed
to extend the deadline for six more
days. He had already extended the
Oct. 11 deadline one day, ater the
Florida Democratic Party iled a
lawsuit last weekend, following the
hurricane’s brush with Florida’s east
coast.
Walker said in an order issued
shortly aterward that he acted swit-
ly because “no right is more precious
than having a voice in our democra-
cy.”
See VOTERS on page 3
President Barack Obama waves as he walks
from Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn
of the White House in Washington Tuesday after
a day trip to North Carolina. Obama told Miami
radio station WHQT on Wednesday Florida
voters have “no excuse” for failing to register to
vote after a federal judge extended the deadline
by six days, to next Tuesday.